As a person who grew up in Travancore and have spent much time in Tiruvananthapuram itself, my feelings are that the infinite treasure in the temple should be utilized fully (i.e., without any leakage whatsoever, if possible) for the welfare of all people of the state, now that things have developed up to the present stage. I say so because this boundless treasure comprises loot and plunder from as many as 16 or 17 native principalities or native states which were conquered by Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma (ATMV) and merged into the new "Thiruvithaamkoor" state. For nearly 300 years or more, this treasure had been augmented by donations/contributions from the wealthy strata of the Travancore society, and also from pilgrims, foreign traders and many other sources.
The Royal Family had, by all indications available to us today, studiously avoided touching any part of this immense treasure either for their own family benefit or for meeting the State's emergencies. But then those were different times, and monarchy ruled. However, the recently deceased Uthradom Thirunal Marthanada Varma was a different type and was a businessman well acquainted with the modern world. It was during his time that an effort was initiated to list out all the items of the temple treasure and to photograph each item. AFAIK, this was the starting point of rift between the Temple Employees and the Maharaja; this dispute came first before the Magistrate's Court in Tiruvananthapuram many years ago and took its own course because, at every level, the judgment was unfavourable to the Royal House and it persisted with the lawsuit to its bitter end. Had the attempt to do the listing and photographing been abandoned as demanded by the employees at the beginning itself (or, alternatively, had the Royal Family conducted a "Deva Prasnam" to ascertain the wishes of the Lord in the matter, at that beginning stage itself) perhaps things could have taken a very different course. But this idea of conducting "Deva Prasnam" came to the Royalty only when the Supreme Court ruled that the B-cellar should also be opened and items evaluated; and the Supreme Court minced no words in criticizing the Royal House for that Deva Prasnam misadventure!
Another point which is very relevant to this fiasco, is the fact that the Sree Padmanabhaswamy idol now adorning the sanctum sanctorum (this was not the idol when Vaishnava saints before 1750 or so; folk belief among 'us people' is that it was a wooden idol of a very rare kind of wood, into which the original appearance of Lord about 8 miles in length and corresponding other dimensions, shrunk when prayed to by Divakara Muni.) is not made of stone or granite. The present temple was completed only after ATMV's time and the present idol has been made of 12,008 Saalagramams specially brought from Gandaki and the idol was made by using a mixture of rare ayurvedic herbs and other ingredients called "kaTuSarkkara yOgam (கடுசர்க்கர யோகம்)" and so there is no abhishekam for the Moolavar all these centuries. (There is a special golden idol in the sanctum itself on which abhishekam is performed. But one fine day some years ago, the news spread suddenly that the idol is golden; and tourists and visitors to the temple increased visibly on account of this — to see the new golden idol which people had never even imagined all these years!!
My assessment is that the temple's downward trend commenced with this development. Not long ago, the Opposition Leader of Kerala Legislature commented that it was not "Paayasam" which was being sent to the Palace daily, but gold !
In the present circumstances, therefore, the Royal Family has no one but itself to blame for all these bizarre developments. It will, therefore, be better for the Royal Family to relinquish not only all its rights vis-a-vis the Temple but also all its responsibilities and customary duties towards the temple and cede the whole thing including the treasures to the new management committee and adopt a stoical stand that whatever the Lord desires, will happen. Personally, going by Rajiv Gandhi's famous statement that only 15 paise out of every rupee reached the poor beneficiary of Government schemes, we may expect that percentage or even less, to actually benefit the people of the state!!
